festivals in amritsar, Amritsar baisakhi, amritsar festivals, fairs & festivals in india

Baisakhi, the festival of spring, is celebrated here every year on 13th of April. It is all the more auspicious because it is on this day that Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa panth. The Guru Granth Sahib is read in all the Gurdwaras and a procession is carried out in the city. People enjoy be dancing the Punjabi folk dance bhangra. It is believed that wheat crop is also ready for harvesting.

The festival falls in the month of October. The day commemorates the birthday of Guru Nanak Devji Maharaj. The Guru Granth Sahib is read and langars are organized in the Gurdwaras and at homes.

On the full moon of Kartik the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak is celebrated by the devotees with great ardor. Two days earlier a non-stop reading of the Adi Granth is started. At different places religious congregations are held and hymns from the Granth Sahib are chanted. Large processions are taken out through the towns. The birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh is also celebrated in a similar manner. The third important Gurupurab is the one associated with the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev.

Lohri, which comes on the last day of Poh (December-January), is another extremely popular festival. This is a special day for making offerings to fire. When fire is lit up in the evening, orthodox men and women go round it, pour offerings into it, and bow before it in reverence.

Next day after Lohri comes Maghi, also called Makar Sankranti (entry of the sun in the sign of Capricorn). It is very popular with the punjabis. On this day fairs are held at many places. The people go out for a holy dip and give away a lot of charity. The special dish of the day is kheer cooked in sugarcane juice.

The most colorful and hilarious of all the festivals, which are celebrated in, Punjab is Holi, celebrated on the full moon day of Phagun. Holi is a festival of colors. The revelers embrace their friends and relatives, and go out in groups, embrace their near one with liquid colors and gulal. A big fair known as Hola Mohala is held at Anandpur on the next day after Holi. People come from far-off places to join it.